The Panthers will finish with a losing record no matter how they finish out these last three games. That means the franchise’s streak of failing to have two winning seasons in a row continues.
A lot of things have to go wrong for a continued run of mediocrity like that and the front office will undergo dramatic structural changes this offseason. If you’re looking for specific individuals to blame though, here are three people who fell short of expectations the most in 2019.
C Matt Paradis
Carolina’s first significant move in free agency this year was to sign former Broncos center Matt Paradis to a three-year, $27 million deal. At the time, the signing was hailed as a sharp, under-the-radar kind of transaction that could pay off big for the Panthers.
Nine months later, it looks like one of the worst free agent signings of the year. Instead of being an upgrade over Ryan Kalil, Paradis has become an absolute liability. His struggles in pass protection have been a major factor in the overall offensive line catastrophe. Heading into Week 15, Paradis has earned a below-average 57.6 grade from Pro Football Focus.
Starting over at the position might be the best move for 2020. However, cutting Paradis would come with $7.2 million in dead money and only save $1.6 million against the cap. So, Carolina might be stuck with him for at least another season.
CB Donte Jackson
Jackson’s 2019 season got off to a bad start long before the games began. His response to his portrayal in Amazon’s All or Nothing series came off just as poorly as he did on camera. When the season started, it became clear that Jackson was considered the weak link in this Panthers secondary by their opponents.
Jameis Winston and Chris Godwin went after Jackson hard Week 2 and his poor performance in coverage was a major factor in the Bucs’ win. Jackson has since been burned badly by several other QB/WR combinations, especially Matt Ryan and Calvin Ridley.
Questioning coach Perry Fewell’s play-calling this week was another misstep for the second-year cornerback. Jackson still has time to mature both on the field and off of it, but the organization has to be particularly disappointed with his development.
Former HC Ron Rivera
It’s already cost him his job, but it’s worth reiterating that Rivera’s performance may have been the single greatest factor in Carolina’s lost season – aside from Cam Newton’s foot injury. Rivera’s mismanagement of that unfortunate development was only one of several critical mistakes he made over the course of the season.
Newton should have never played Weeks 1-2 when he wasn’t 100%. If Rivera had benched him and let Cam recover, this whole year could have gone differently. Rivera also continued to overplay veterans at the expense of the development of younger players (especially Brian Burns) and refused to switch things up on defense when it was clear his 3-4 scheme was getting destroyed by the run.
He’ll probably go on to be successful in his next gig, but Rivera’s legacy in Carolina is somewhat diminished by how things turned out this year.
